{"id":8821,"date":"2019-09-14T18:31:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-15T01:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lubukhati.org\/?p=8821"},"modified":"2019-09-14T18:31:05","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T01:31:05","slug":"heart-of-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/?p=8821","title":{"rendered":"Heart of the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

24th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time [C]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 15, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 15:1-32<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke contains three of the most heartwarming\nas well as powerful parables in the entire Bible. These three parables are\nknown as the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the\nparable of the prodigal son. If we look closer into these three parables, what\nis so stunning and astonishing is how Jesus bends, twists and stretches human\nlogic and natural tendency to nail His point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In ancient Israel, shepherds knew that to pastor the flock of sheep was\nnot easy job because they had to lead their flocks in constant search for food\nand water in the wilderness. Sheep was naturally dumb animal and possessed no\nnatural defense mechanism. As a sheep looked for food, it easily went astray\nand was exposed to imminent threats like wolves, hyaenas or robbers. The\nshepherd had to exert extra effort to watch over their sheep. Yet,\noccasionally, a sheep or two got lost, and the shepherd had to go into search\nand rescue mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Jesus tells us about a good shepherd who dares to leave the\nother sheep to search for a single lost sheep. Along the way, he may stumble\nupon life-threating dangers like robbers or pack of wolves. There is no\nassurance he will find his sheep. He is practically risking his own life for\nthis dumb sheep. What even remarkable is that after the shepherd discovers his\nlost animal, he rejoices exceedingly and throws a party for the finding. His\nmission is a huge success and it is time to share the joy with others. It is\nsimply heartwarming story. Then, when Jesus\u2019 listeners are still mesmerized,\nJesus drops the bomb. He points out that God is this good shepherd! God is the\nwoman who rejoices for the small coin. God is the father who accepts and\ncelebrates for his runaway son who returns. Through these parables, Jesus\nteaches us our God is merciful and His mercy is beyond our wildest imagination.\nThis is why that they have been called as \u201cthe Gospel of the Gospel\u201d because\nthe three parables carry the heart of the Gospel, that is the mercy of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every one of us is like the lost sheep, the lost coin or the lost son.\nThere are points in our lives we are so low and feeling meaningless. No amount\nof worldly happiness can fill our hearts, until Jesus finds us. Carolyn\nKolleger was a successful American model and movie actress. As a baby, she was\nbaptized Catholic, but she never knew and loved her faith. As a model, she\nnever thought anything else but herself. She also got married to Erwin\nKolleger, a business man, who enjoyed worldly pleasures. They were rich,\nthrowing a lot of parties, drinking alcohol and even consuming drugs. Until,\nshe got pregnant. She did not want to lose her career and pushed by her husband,\nshe aborted the baby. She did it not only once but thrice. She got depressed,\nand her marriage was about to collapse. Until, a priest came and helped Carolyn\nand Edwin. They began to meet a Catholic counselor who helped their marriage.\nCarolyn decided to repent and go back They were received back into the Catholic\nChurch. She prayed the rosary and read the Bible in more regular basis, and\nattended the Eucharist. Eventually her husband also followed her, and rebuilt\ntheir marriage and family not in the basis of worldly measures, but faith, hope\nand love. They were blessed with four children and find true happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is our God, a compassionate and merciful God who tirelessly seeks\nHis lost sons and daughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time [C] September 15, 2019 Luke 15:1-32 Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke contains three of the most heartwarming as well as powerful parables in the entire Bible. These three parables are known as the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the prodigal son. If we look closer into these three parables, what is so stunning and astonishing is how Jesus bends, twists and stretches human…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[57,58],"class_list":["post-8821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-renungan","tag-english","tag-sunday-reflection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8822,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8821\/revisions\/8822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lubukhati.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}